140 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Scolopax. 
but tlie other ten species can only be satisfactorily deter¬ 
mined by the width of their outside tail-feathers, which mea¬ 
sure *2 inch or less, whilst those of the four species now to 
be considered measure *3 inch or more. 
These four species only breed in the Nearctic and Palse- 
arctic Regions, or the Northern Zone; and, with the curious 
exception of East Siberia, no part of the Northern Zone is 
inhabited by any other species of Snipe. 
25. Scolopax gallinago. 
The Common Snipe breeds throughout the whole of North 
Europe and Siberia, but it is very rare north of lat. 70°, and in 
the southern portion of its breeding-range it is chiefly confined 
to mountain-chains. Its range extends west to Iceland and 
the Faroes, and possibly to South Greenland, and it is said 
that in both the former localities a few remain to winter. It 
has been said to breed in Algeria, and is known to do so on 
the southern slopes of the Alps and in South Russia. Both 
Severtzow and Scully found it breeding in Turkestan; and 
Prjevalsky says that a few remain to breed in South-east 
Mongolia. It is a winter visitor to the basin of the Mediter¬ 
ranean and to North Africa, as far south in the west as the 
Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and the valley of the Gambia, 
and in the east as far as the southern shores of the Gulf of 
Aden. In Asia it winters in Persia, India, Ceylon, the 
Andaman Islands, and Burma. It has once occurred on the 
Malay Peninsula, but it passes regularly along the coasts of 
Japan on migration to winter in China, Formosa, and the 
Philippine Islands. 
4 26. Scolopax gallinago wilsoxi. 
A comparison of a large series of skins of the North- 
American Snipe with a still larger series of examples of the 
Common Snipe presents some curious anomalies. The 
extreme forms of the two species may be diagnosed as 
follows :— 
